BEIJING (AFP) - An explosion at a factory in eastern China on Saturday killed 65 people, a government broadcaster said, while more than 100 were injured in what appeared to be an industrial accident.

The explosion in Kunshan, a city in the eastern province of Jiangsu, "has resulted in 65 deaths", state-broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) said in an Internet post.

The explosion occurred Saturday morning at a facility run by a metals factory, it added. More than 100 people were injured in the explosion, China's official Xinhua news agency said.

Pictures posted online showed a charred body being wheeled on a stretcher, and people with burned clothing sitting on the ground outside a factory complex that was billowing black smoke.

"The scene is a mess, its unrecognisable," a witness at the scene wrote on Sina Weibo, a Chinese equivalent of Twitter. Industrial accidents occur with some regularity in China, where safety standards are often lax.